


Polaroid

by hnnng



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Angst, Gen, Other characters like Aurora and Descole mentioned, Photos, Post Azran Legacy, Post Curious Village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22867666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hnnng/pseuds/hnnng
Summary: Emmy, while cleaning up her apartment, stumbles across some old photos.
Relationships: Emmy Altava & Hershel Layton & Luke Triton
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Polaroid

**Author's Note:**

> The Professor Layton fandom is so small and dead but I really wanted to write for it, so here ya go. This story technically takes place post-Curious Village but the events of that game are only mentioned once. Of course, major spoilers for basically any game with Emmy in it (and Eternal Diva).

Emmy huffs, lifting the dingy cardboard boxes that have been stashed away in her closet for ages. Just in time for the heaps of dust that have been layering on top of the boxes to go flying into her face. Emmy finds her hands releasing the boxes in a desperate attempt to cover her mouth, allowing them to tumble across the floor, spewing out their contents as they go.

“So much for tidying up the place,” Emmy groans once she regains her ability to breathe. Upon inspecting the mess, she realizes that the contents of the box were… photos. Emmy kneels down on the wood floor, flipping over a picture.

She remembers that one, from when she was much younger. Emmy must have been… perhaps nine or ten here, her brown hair messy and knees covered in bright bandaids. She was missing a tooth at the time, and proudly sporting the gap in her grin. Next to her is Uncle Leon. Back when he had more than a mind obsessed with the Azran. 

Emmy sighs, carefully putting the photo beside her. She supposes she should go through them. She grabs a few, inspecting the first one. There’s her, proudly donning her white gi and the black belt wrapped around her waist. There are also various pictures of Uncle Leon that she must’ve taken on her first camera, a gift for her eleventh birthday. 

* * *

“Happy birthday, Emmeline,” her Uncle said, placing a small gift-wrapped box on the table in front of her. She had a spoonful of cereal in her mouth, and peered up at him. “Go on, open it.”

Emmy lowered her spoon, and took the box into her hands. It’s a bright yellow—her favorite color—done up with a shiny pink bow. She shook it gently, listening to the  _ clunk, clunk _ of a singular object as she does so. Emmy carefully tried to undo the bow, but gave up rather quickly and tugged at it until it snapped. As she lifted the lid off, she gasped at the small camera inside.

It’s nothing special, but Emmy had started taking a liking to photography around that time. She shot out her chair, hugging her uncle.

“Thank you so much!” she cried, happily. 

“You’re very welcome, my dear.”

* * *

Around that time, her uncle had become increasingly distant. He forgot her fourteenth birthday all together, apparently pursuing some lead into the Azran. She was inducted into Targent on her fifteenth birthday.

Emmy shakes her head, sighing, and sets those photos off to the side. The next set sends a flash of anguish through her, biting at wounds that have yet to close. The first few she looks at are generic scenic shots, though she recognizes them well enough. She had taken those from inside the Laytonmobile, as she and the Professor drove to Misthallery.

There are plenty of shots of Misthallery. It was beautiful. There are some blurred shots of the specter, from that first night in the hotel. Then there’s the shots of Luke and the Professor. She had taken a few throughout their time there, when she could. Back then, Luke was rather closed off and usually frowned during pictures. 

She had thought it strange for such a young boy to be so… frowny. But the Professor was always so patient with him. At the end of the day, he was a normal boy, stuck in the middle of unfortunate circumstances, and it had been more apparent as he opened up more and started smiling and laughing. 

There’s one photo, of Luke and the Professor with Loosha and the Barde children. The pang of sadness in her chest is overwhelming. Emmy longs so hard to go back to then. In some ways, she’s glad she’s not the Professor’s assistant. The ever-growing pressure of spying on the Professor and Luke for her uncle was overwhelming to her at times. She’d always known there would come a day when they’d find out, especially as they became increasingly tangled in affairs regarding the Azran. 

  
Yet… there were so many moments that flew away from her on the Azran sanctuary, feeling her stomach twist in knots as she knew what was to come. Emmy was always the trump card, the last thing that would stand in between who would unlock that door. All the memories made, hitting the ground in one swift move.

Perhaps Emmy could be on an adventure with the Professor and Luke right now, if things weren’t the way they were. Snapping new photos, making new memories, solving incredible mysteries. Perhaps, Aurora would still… 

Emmy clutches her hands, feeling her nails dig into her palms. Best not to think of that. She still has so many photos to go through, but perhaps a break is in order. Emmy sighs, standing up and dusting her coat off.

* * *

At work, Emmy scans through the photos she’s taken, trying to determine the best ones to appear in the newspaper, when she hears someone from nearby.

“I just got the  _ best _ scoop!” a man brags from somewhere behind her desk. 

“Do tell,” Dariya says, clearly intrigued by the man’s claim.

“Everyone’s been dying to get their hands on stories about that Professor Layton fellow,” the man says, waiting for Dariya’s nod of acknowledgment. “Well, I got an exclusive scoop, about some kind of inheritance dispute, you see...”

Emmy listens carefully to the man recount the story, and can’t help but wish she was there. She loves her job, and her new life away from Targent, don’t get her wrong. But still…

  
After its publication, she ends up with a copy of the article, which has a picture of the Professor and Luke, alongside an unfamiliar young girl. Emmy pins it to her corkboard.

* * *

On her day off, Emmy continues skimming through the photos. A lot are from her investigation during the whole “search for eternal life” affair. There was something so… terrifying to her, as she ran along the island with Grosky, Whistler, and the young girl, Nina, watching Descole’s machine. She had barely been able to make out what was happening all the way up there. 

  
Emmy had been able to catch a glimpse of Luke, who nearly gave her a heart attack as she watched him jump from wire to wire in an attempt to rescue Melina. The momentary relief she had gotten when he made it was quickly squashed when the drill had hit the Professor’s makeshift helicopter.

Despite it all being alright in the end, it was those moments when her heart had sunk into her stomach, with the sudden realization;

_ I’m becoming attached _ .

Of course, she’d already gained much love for the two during their adventures in Misthallery, but she was aware of the fact she would betray them. She was still at the point where she felt that she  _ could  _ betray them, and be alright with the idea of going separate ways.

After Ambrosia, she didn’t feel that way anymore. 

Part of her had wanted to tell them. The other feared losing everything she had made for herself.

The next set of photos are all from Monte d’Or. There are plenty of happy memories from the city, as well as painful ones. There’s a picture she was able to snap of Luke (who looks hilariously terrified) and the Professor (who looks hilariously unphased) on the rollercoaster at the fair, and one of all three of them getting ice cream. Oh, and also many pictures of Luke’s rabbit. It was so cute, and she ended up taking way more pictures of the thing than she’d expected.

Monte D’or was a special place. She remembers late nights in their hotel room as the Professor recounted his adventures with his friend, Randall, with Luke dozing off at her side, despite his desperate attempts to stay awake. She remembers the fair, and the fun they’d all had before it was cut short by the Masked Gentleman. 

Emmy gulps at the next set. The last adventure they’d shared. There’s a picture, of all of them—both professors, Luke, Aurora, and her—in San Grio, wearing shorts, t-shirts, and sunhats. Aurora is clutching the egg they had just found to her chest, and Luke had gotten his hands on one of Miranda’s popono cakes. Professor Sycamore looks rather… flustered in his tropical flower shirt and the Professor is flashing a gentlemanly smile at the camera. She herself is kneeling in between Aurora and Luke, holding two fingers above each of their heads.

The next is a photo from the Walled City—Monsinnia. After the group had wandered out to the sluice gate, Luke and Aurora ended up getting many scraps on their legs from the prickly plants. Professor Sycamore had made such a fuss about it, and insisted on going back to the Bostonius to bandage their little wounds. So there he is, immortalized in picture-form, crouched in front of Aurora as he applies a colorful bandaid to her leg. Luke sits beside them, with his legs already covered in different colors of bandaids, watching Sycamore work.

In some ways, she supposes she and Descole are almost like two birds of a feather. When Sycamore had revealed himself to be Descole, part of her felt enraged. Like everything had all been a lie. And yet, Emmy, only a few hours later, would have a sharp shard of ice pressed up against Luke’s throat.

Despite it all, she loved the Professor and Luke. In some ways, they had become family to her, just like Uncle Leon. Emmy knows that despite her true goal, every second they spent together was genuine. And thus, part of her believes that Sycamore wasn’t really faking it all, either.

The last picture there is of the sun setting on the lake where the Sanctuary had crashed. Aurora was gone—dead. Descole had disappeared with the Sanctuary. Uncle Leon was being handcuffed. She stood a few feet away from the Professor and Luke, none of them speaking, as if to delay the inevitable.

A week later, she’d left her job as the Professor’s assistant. 

Emmy doesn’t realize it until she sees a drop of water land on the picture. She furiously scrubs at her eyes. She’s been strong for so long, and she can’t give in now. And yet…

* * *

The next morning, she finds herself glaring holes into the newspaper article about the Professor.

Perhaps it’s time to write a letter.

And so, Emmy sits at her desk, throwing out piece of paper after paper into the bin.  _ That’s too awkward, Emmy. Who starts a letter off like that? _

It must have been an hour that had passed like that, until she triumphantly holds out the piece of paper in front of her, watching the ink dry.

_ My dear Professor Layton, _

_ It’s already been months since that case, hasn’t it? I hope you’re well. _

_ I heard from some of my coworkers that you had solved the trouble with that town’s inheritance, and before I knew it I was writing this letter... _

**Author's Note:**

> The letter at the end is real, and from the Japanese Guidebook. I only took a small snippet of it, and there's plenty of translations online. Though, basically the rest of the letter talks about Emmy's job at the World Times and her relationship with Bronev (basically explaining why she betrayed them in more depth). I had some trouble characterizing her relationship with Bronev due to the lack of information, but I genuinely believe he loved her until his obsession with the Azran became so bad that he was even willing to let her become a part of Targent.
> 
> I plan to write more for PL at some point, as I've loved the games for years and recently started playing and replaying some (Azran Legacy traumatized me).


End file.
